Clark County Business Briefing

People in Business

Washington State University Vancouver’s Carson College of Business celebrated the ninth anniversary of its Business Growth Mentor and Analysis program, a pro bono student-led consultantcy, on May 8. Student teams work to help local businesses with growth, marketing and accounting. This year three student teams, all 2018 and 2019 graduates, were recognized for their work and received Outstanding Growth Assessment Project recognitions.

• Kamyar Abtin, Molly Bartley, Shannon Leininger, Shelby McGuffey and Sarah Moe, who worked on a project for Slumberkins, a Vancouver-based educational children’s brand. The group helped with inventory management and e-commerce.

• Garrett Behrman, Gerardo Guevara, Taylor Scukanec and Zachary Torson, who worked on a project for Self Balance Massage, a Vancouver-based massage and spa business that was looking for help on analysis and recommendations to formalize internal processes.

• Tosha Bryant, Daniel Cordova, Samuel Etter, Savannah Penland and Jaason Wilson, who worked on a project for the Human Services Council, a Vancouver-based nonprofit that has a Volunteer Connections program. The organization was seeking ways to engage the next generation of volunteers.

Businesses interested in applying for Business Growth MAP services should call 360-546-9533, email bgmap@wsu.edu or visit business.vancouver.wsu.edu/bgmap. New projects begin in late August.

Julie Williams, owner of Home Instead Senior Care in Vancouver, won the Senior Focused Organization: For Profit Award at the Third Annual Senior Heroes Awards Luncheon on May 16 at WareHouse ’23. The program was held to honor people in the community who serve seniors. Williams co-chaired the CDM Capital Campaign, raising funds to build a $3.4 million adult day center, the McKibbin Center, at 2300 N.E. Andresen Road, Vancouver. She also helps with Be a Santa to a Senior, a program that helps seniors in the community receive a gift for the holidays. Williams also holds free community workshops such as “Unretire Yourself,” to help educate people thinking about retirement, or who are already retired, re-enter the workforce.

Walk & Knock, an annual one-day food drive and Vancouver-based nonprofit organization, elected new officers. Tom Knappenberger, vice president of marketing, will take over as president for a three-year term starting in June. Other officers include: Adam Hegewald, first vice president; Janet Elliot, second vice president; Justin Wood, past president; Becky Writt, treasurer; and Kay Hust, secretary. Other board members include Joe Pauletto, James Fitzgerald, Bill Lundin and Jeff Fish. Walk & Knock was formed in 1985 and has collected more than 8.5 million pounds of food for the needy in Clark County.

The Educational Service District 112 communications team won 18 state public relations, marketing, graphic design and website awards, including four Best in Category winners, at the Washington School Public Relations Association’s awards program. The awards program is broken into two divisions: districts with more than 10,000 students and districts with fewer than 10,000 students. ESD 112 provides communication services for small school districts that would not otherwise have the resources for a communications program, which includes several districts in Clark County. Among the 18 awards ESD 112 received, 14 were projects for school districts with fewer than 10,000 students. See the full list of awards online at https://www.esd112.org/.